Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-07-06

sweet mastery of her will that had possessed
him in the sitting room of 1.-THE Palatial" But
now, all earthly considerations having faded
away, he no longer sIesitated, but pressed his
lips against hers and kissed her again and
again. 1t was perhaps as wild and pathetic a
love scene as ever the old moon above has
looked upon. There they were, those two,
experiencing the fullest and acutest joy that
life has to offer in the shadow of death. Nay,
death was present with them; for there, be-
meath their feet, half hidden by the water,
was the stiffening corpse Of the Zulu.
To and fro swung the cart in the rush Of
the swollen river, up and down beside them
the carcasses Of the horses rose and fell with
the swell of the water, on whose surface the
broken moonbeams played and quivered.
Overhead was the blue, star sown depth
through which they were waiting presently
to pass, and to the right and left the long,
broken outlines Of the banks stretched away
till at last they appeared to grow together in
the gloom.
But thay needed none Of these things; they
remembered nothing except that they had
found each Others hearts, and were happy.
with a wild joy it is not often given us to feel.
The past was forgotten, the future was at
hand, and between the one and the other was
spanned a bridge of passion made perfect and
sanctihed by the approaching end. Bessie
was forgotten, all things were forgotten in
that consuming fire.
Let those who would blame them pause
while. Why not9 They had kept the faith
They had denied themselves and run straightly
down the path Of duty. But the compacts Of
life end with life. No man may bargain for
the beyond. Even the marriage service
shrinks from it. And now that hope had
gone and life was at its EXTREMIST ebb, why
should they not take their happiness before
they passed to the land where, perchance, all
things will be forgottenl So it seemed to
them; if indeed they were any longer capable
Of reason.
He looked into her eyes and she laid her
head upon his heart in that mute abandon
ment of worship which is sometimes to be
met with in this world. and is redeemed from
vulgar passion by an inde1nable quality Of
its own. He looked into her eyes and was
glad to have lived, ay, even to have reached
this hour Of death. And she, lost in the
depths Of her own nature, sobbed out her
passion laden heart upon his breast, and
called him her own. her own, her very own!
And SO the long hours passed, till at last
new born freshness in the air told them that
they were not far from dawn. The death
they were waiting for had not yet come. 1t
must now be very near at hand.
"John," she whispered in his ear, ado you
think that they will shoot usl"
eyes," he said, hoarsely; "they must for
their own safety"
u wish it were over" she said.
Suddenly she started back from his arms
with a little cry, causing the cart to rock vio-
lently.
II forgot, !" she said-"you can swim, though
I cannot. Why cannot you swim to the
bank and get off under cover of the darkness.
1t is not more than fifty yards, and the cur
rent is not so very swifta"
The idea Of escaping without Jess had never
occurred to him, and now that she suggested
it, it struck him as 80 absurd that he actually
broke into ghost of laugh.
"Don't talk nonsense, Jess," he said.
@Yes, yes, I will. Go! You must 60! It
does not matter about me now. know you
love me and I can die happy. Twill wait for
you. Oh, John! wherever am, if have any
life and any remembrance, will wait for
you. Never forget that all your life How
ever far may seem away, If I live at all, I
shall be waiting for you. And now co. you
shall go, say! No, I will not be disobeyed.
II You will not go I will throw myself into
the water. o., the cart Is turning overR
"Hold on for Gods sake!" shouted John.
1.-THE traces have broken"
He was right; the tough leather was at
length worn through by the constant rub
bing against the rock and the strain and
swaying Of the cart on the one side and the
dead horses on the other. Round it spun,
broadside on the current, and Immediately
began to heave over till at last the angle was
so sharp that the dead body Of poor Mouti
slid out with splash and vanished into the
darkness. This relieved the cart, and it
righted for moment, but now no longer held
up by the bodies of the horses, or by the sus-
tanning power Of the wind, it began to fill
and sink, and at the same time to revolve
round and round. John realized that it was
all up, and that to stop in the cart would
only mean certain death, because they would
be held under water by the canvas tent SO
with a devout aspiration for assistance he
seized jess round the waist with one arm and
sprang off into the water. As he did so the
cart filed and sank.
1Lie still for Heavens sake!" he shouted, as
they rose to the surface
In the dim light of the dawn, which was
now creeping over the earth, he could make
out the line Of the left bank of the Vaal, the
same from which they had started into the
river on the previous night 1t appeared to
be about forty yards away, but the current
was running quite six knots, and be realized
that, burdened as he was, it would be quite
impracticable for him to try and reach it.
The only thing to do was to keep afoat
Luckily the water was warm and he was a
strong swimmer. In minute or so he made
out that about fifty PAGES ahead some rocks
jutted out twenty yards into the bed Of the
stream. Then, catching Jess by the hair
with his left hand, he made his effort, and a
desperate one it was. The broken water
boiled furiously round the rocks. Presently
he was in it, and. better still, his feet touched
the ground Next second he was swept off
them and rolled over and over at the bottom
of the river, getting sadly knocked about
against the bowlders Somehow he struggled
i his legs, still retaining his hold of Jess
Twice he fell, and twice he struggled up
again. One more efort-so. The water was
only up to his thighs now, and he was obliged
to half carry his companion. As he lifted
her he felt deadly sickness come over him,
but still he struggled on like a man, till at
last they both fell of heap upon big fiat
rock, and for a while he remembered no
more.
When he came to himself again it was to
find Jess, who had recovered sooner than he
had, standing over him and chatting his hands.
Indeed, as the sun was up, he guessed that he
must have lost his senses for some time. He
rose with some difficulty and shook himself.
Except for some bruises he was sound enough.
care you hurt" he asked of Jess, who,
pale and faint and bruised, her hat gone, her
dress torn by bullets and the rocks, and, drip
ping water at every step, looked all exceed
ingly forlorn object.
"No," she said, feebly; mot very much"
He sat down on the rock in the sun, for
they were both shivering with cold. "What
is to be done" he asked
"Die," she said, fiercely; ~ meant to die
why did you not let me dies Ours is posi-.
tion that only death can set straight"
Don't be alarmed" he said, "your desire
will soon be gratified; those numbering vii.
lains will hunt us up presently"
. The bed and banks of the river were
clothed with thin layers of mist but as the
sun gathered power these lifted The spot
where they had gone ashore was about 3OG
yards below that where the two Beers and
their horses had been destroyed by the light.